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At least 10 Russians have died, and over 50 others have been hospitalized or received treatment in the past three weeks after eating poisonous mushrooms, agencies reported Monday citing a regional health official.

The poisonings have been registered largely near Voronezh, about 475 kilometres south of Moscow, said Irina Zaitseva, deputy director of the regional sanitary and epidemiological department.

Zaitseva said that since the end of June one child has died, and 58 people, including seven more children, have been treated or hospitalized, AP reports.

She attributed many of this year's deaths to an outbreak in the growth of one particularly poisonous mushroom that was largely indistinguishable from edible ones.

Unfortunately, dozens of people die annually from poisonous mushrooms in Russia and Ukraine, where gathering mushrooms for pickling or soups is a favorite pastime and, for some, a badly needed supplement to meagre diets.